J. Kent's Blog - Articles for Employers and Job Seekers

When Employer Dress Codes Discriminate Against Men

Posted by: Emma Berdanier on July 5th, 2019

Many employers may think of schools when the term “dress code discrimination” comes to mind, as most of the popular stories in the news these days revolve around students – disproportionately female students – being reprimanded for not following strict, discriminatory dress codes. But these can be just as discriminatory and can have a similar impact of disproportionately affecting marginalized communities when implemented in the workplace. However, your company’s policy may also be affecting non-marginalized communities, or simply one specific non-marginalized community – men.

Disparities in Dress Code Policies that Affect Men:

Requiring men to wear long pants, while women can wear shorter skirts/dresses and cropped or capri pants.

Prohibiting men from wearing makeup, while women can.

Prohibiting men from wearing jewelry, while women can.

Requiring men to have short hair, while women can wear their hair either long or short.

The Solution:

Even when a dress code is perfectly legal, as even dress codes that discriminate against gender tend to be upheld in the courts, it may cost your company in terms of a decrease in productivity and morale, and an increase in turnover. Employees want to work somewhere where they are free to fully express themselves, and where they do not feel they are discriminated against based on things outside of their control. And in a state like Colorado, where both discriminations against sex and sexual orientation (including transgender status) are prohibited, it is very important to ensure that your company’s dress code doesn’t adversely impact any group.

To prevent this from happening, an easy solution is to not base the rationale for a dress code policy on a desire for men to act more “masculine” or women to act more “feminine”. Instead focus on what policies would create a professional and presentable workplace, without creating policies that single out either gender. Policies that single out men or women may also adversely affect employees whose gender identity falls somewhere else in the spectrum.

A dress code that creates reasonable and professional expectations for the office doesn’t need to focus on gender at all. Special consideration should be given not only to how your company’s policy affects female employees but also to how it affects male employees, as they are the forgotten group that can also be discriminated against in the workplace.